


anything but similar

by koganewest



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [6]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Gen, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) Angst, Keith (Voltron)-centric, Torture, be careful reading this pls, kangst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-18
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-06-28 23:47:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15717555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koganewest/pseuds/koganewest
Summary: Keith is captured by Lotor, who seems oddly captivated by him.





	anything but similar

**Author's Note:**

> this isnt light angst. proceed with caution

Keith is well acquainted with fear.

As a child, the darkness would haunt him, threaten to grab him by the ankles and drag him in, regardless of his father’s assurances. He’d resort to curling up in strong arms that seemed to ward off anything harmful.

Then, when the embrace was ripped away from him, he dreamt restlessly of the fire that’d swallowed up the one person he had. Fear tethered itself to him and refused to let go, denied him the right to breathe. It snuck down his windpipe and into his lungs, making him blue in the face and sick with it.

Fear came for him even in the orphanages, even when he’d lock the door to keep it away. This time, it took the form of a ruthless older woman who seemed to lack both compassion and self-restraint. For hours, he’d remain locked in a cupboard-like room and pray to a god he didn’t believe in that the walls would cease to close in. The quickened breaths of an impending panic attack accompanied desperate rumbles of hunger, making the silence nearly deafening.

And when he’d found an escape in Shiro, fear took over his body and promised Keith he’d only have a few years left with Shiro. He couldn’t separate himself, though. Especially not when Shiro was the only thing keeping Keith alive and kicking. The traces of loneliness followed him, remained in his shadow because Keith just couldn’t outrun the fear.

Later, fear shaped the Kerberos mission and its failure. It shaped his conflict with Iverson and his inevitable expulsion. It shaped his stolen hoverbike as it took him far, far away from the place that once made him feel at home. It shaped his lonely shack in the lonely desert. It shaped his stiff couch. It shaped his shattered heart. 

Fear took a backseat once Voltron became his life. For a while, Keith feared nothing. Everything he needed was in the castle. He could protect them all. 

Introspectively speaking, he knows fear as well as he knows himself. It’s become a part of him, a chain that ties itself to his ankle and refuses to let him walk freely. It hides in his dark eyes, under his skin, within his blood, throughout his soul. Keith is well acquainted with fear. That much is obvious. 

And still, as he sits at Lotor’s feet, chained and bleeding, he’s never been more scared in his life.

“You see, paladin,” the prince drawls, hooking a finger under Keith’s jaw and drawing his face up to look at him. “I’ve had my eye on you for a while.” He laughs maniacally now and shoves Keith in the process. The motion makes him dizzy, a sure sign of his concussion, and he dry-heaves toward the dirty ground of his cell. Acid burns his throat raw.

“Why me?” He rasps, as Lotor towers above him, giving an air of power and condescension, cackling at Keith’s pathetic attempts to straighten himself. Keith has nearly stopped fighting. After a week of torture, he’s given into submission. Even the thought makes him sick with self-hatred.

“Haven’t you learned anything?” Lotor’s voice has dropped an octave, low and raspy in his throat. The primal growl sends chills up Keith’s spine as he swallows a lump of that redundant fear in his throat. “You are exactly what I want.”

“Let me go!” Keith protests, even though it’s useless. His fate has been sealed. In fact, his fate was sealed after a quintant, when no one had came to rescue him. And again the next quintant, when he still waited - _foolishly_ \- to be saved. Now, he’d come to terms with the fact that no one would come. He’d have to fight alone.

“Now, now,” he tuts, tone full of demeaning authority as Keith thrashes in his chains, unable to stand due to his busted knee. “Why would I do that? Why would you want that?” He solidifies his rhetoric with a kick to Keith’s gut. He doubles over and coughs up blood, aiming for Lotor’s shoes in defiance.

“It’s a shame you fail to see our similarities.”

“We are nothing alike,” Keith shouts, voice breaking at each word. He bares his teeth for good measure, narrowing his eyes and trying to look as fierce and dangerous as possible. Maybe it’ll keep Lotor away from him.

“Let us see, paladin. You are half galra. You had an estranged mother. You lack self-restraint. You spent the majority of your childhood in a state of self-sufficiency. You avoid rejection and abandonment. But most of all, you fear what you cannot control. Tell me, paladin. Am I wrong?” When Keith doesn’t answer, he laughs. “Interesting. It seems you agree that you and I, my dear, are no different.”

“You delusional bastard,” Keith snarls in response, hacking up blood at Lotor. “We‘re anything but similar.”

“Think whatever you like, paladin,” Lotor snarls back, before turning to the sentries in the door with a menacing smirk. The evil glint in his eyes makes Keith audibly gulp, feeling sick to his stomach for a totally different reason now. Lotor’s voice is smug with authority as he barks out an order to the servants. “Take him to the bed and tie him down.”

Keith suddenly surges forward with energy, kicking and screaming against the sentries that drag him to the cot in the corner of the room. He writhes and thrashes with fearful intensity, but his efforts are fruitless due to his injury and weakness. Straps are fastened around his wrists and ankles, tethering him to the bed and, subsequently, to this hell reality.

As Lotor approaches him, his posture relaxes from one of royal authority to one of desperate need. His expression turns to primal desire, gazing at Keith like he’s some sort of meal. The thought makes him scream louder, voice breaking with terror.

“You can scream all you want, paladin,” Lotor taunts. “No one will hear you. You will not be saved. It’s best if you cooperate with me. You have a choice to make.”

Keith spits weakly toward his face.

“So be it, then. You wish to make this hard for yourself,” Lotor growls, now close enough that Keith can practically smell the arousal on him. It makes him sick to his stomach, thinking about what’s going to happen to him.

Tears well up in Keith’s eyes. In his teenage years, he looked forward to having a perfect relationship, of losing his virginity to someone he loved and who loved him in return. Instead, as if the universe was conspiring against his every wish, he was going to be taken by Lotor - of all people. It’s going to be nothing like he’d hoped. Instead, he’s going to hurt.

Lotor leans down to kiss Keith, but he turns his head as a last act of disobedience. All it does is make Lotor angrier, and he immediately regrets it. He receives a harsh slap to the face, and then Lotor grabs his jaw and forces him to look at him.

Keith continues screaming. But now, he’s crying too.

“Quite pathetic, aren’t you?” Lotor grins maniacally, now letting his hand wander over Keith’s torso. “You were once so fiery, so bold. And now, you are weak. I can’t wait until I make you-”

One moment, Lotor is sweet talking him, and the next, he’s unconscious on the floor. 

Standing in the doorway, gun in hand, is Lance. And behind him, Shiro. Horror is the only discernible emotion in their expressions. The rest of the team looms in the hallway, unsure whether or not to enter when Keith is in this state of vulnerability. 

And for some reason, it makes Keith sob harder. This time, though, he isn’t scared. He’s relieved.

**Author's Note:**

> idk how this ends tbh. come yell at me on [tumblr](https://koganewest.tumblr.com/)
> 
> love y'all  
> -lily


End file.
